USA > Iowa > Adair County > History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 22
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14. Two wells were dug on section 26, Orient Township, under the writer's immediate observation. The section of one is as follows:
5. Black soil 1 foot
4. Unstratified, yellow-brown joint clay, grad- ing insensibly down into. 3 feet
.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
3. Unstratified, stiff blue joint clay, without pebbles or boulders. This again grades insensibly into 8 feet
2. Blue joint clay, containing numerous angu- lar pebbles and this in turn grades insen- sibly into the next. 3 feet
1. Blue joint clay without pebbles or boulders. 15 feet
The shaft of the second well is almost identical with the foregoing except that a very few angular pebbles were scattered through strata Nos. 1. 3 and 4. Stratum No. 2 shows no signs of stratification, but consists of perfectly typical Kansan clay.
In addition to the foregoing data, the writer has made careful observations wherever the working of the roads has exposed good sections. The individual points at which observations of this sort have been made it is unnecessary to catalog, since the entire county has been thoroughly covered in this respect, and the results everywhere agree. The surface soil, everywhere except where covered by allu- vium or modified by the presence of abundant plant humus, is a joint clay, that is, a clay that when crushed dry in the fingers becomes coarsely granular in texture. It is usually light in color, varying through the shades of brownish yellow and brown. No surface soil has been found that has the peculiar smooth "greasy" consistency characteristic. of the Iowa and the Missouri loess, nor has any been found that blows up in the fine, impalpable dust characteristic of the loess. The granular surface clay, when exposed in a fresh cut, some- times shows lime nodules, sometimes not. Where it has been pene- trated by plant roots the latter are sometimes surrounded by iron, and the soil at the lower limit of the portion penetrated by the grass roots sometimes shows a reddish streak. It is never fossiliferous. Pebbles and small quartzite fragments as large as one's two fists are not uncommon, large boulders are occasionally present, and very fre- quently it is-like the underlying blue clay-entirely without stone fragments of any sort whatever. When pebbles and boulders are present they are usually very angular. The largest boulder the writer has seen was one about three feet in diameter on section 31. Jefferson . Township, and in Greenfield a number of quartzite boulders two feet in diameter are used as cornerstones and hitching posts, but stones of this size are extremely rare. This yellow joint clay grades down insensibly into the stiff blue clay beneath, and it is impossible ever to
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
draw a definite line of separation between the two. In fact, when the stiff blue clay is exposed at the surface the action of the weather leaches it out to a yellow tint, it becomes somewhat more porous and takes on all the characteristics of the surface clay as here described. In view of these facts the writer is driven to believe that they are in fact identical.
To sum up: The lower Pleistocene of Adair County consists of a thin sheet of Nebraskan till, most of which may have been removed or incorporated into the Kansan, and a sheet of gravels and silts rep- resenting the Aftonian interglacial period. The latter is present at many points in the county, under the thick Kansan drift, as evidenced by the presence of a forest bed containing logs of a variety of species of trees and also by the presence of stratified gravels, sand and peat, and frequent iron nodules. The cases mentioned here in detail are but a few of many that might be found. So general is this condition that well diggers tell the writer that below a depth of thirty-five or forty feet they "expect to strike logs," and the Aftonian gravel is well rec- ognized among local well diggers as a water bearing stratum. Mr. Jesse Hines, a veteran well digger residing in Greenfield and well known to the writer for many years, writes thus: "We find pieces of wood in this county anywhere when we go down through blue or black clay." Many other well diggers bear witness to the correctness of this statement. Above the Aftonian lies the Kansan drift, of variable thickness, depending upon the two factors of pre-Kansan erosion and post-Kansan erosion, but at least two hundred seventy fect at its max- imum. This is a heterogeneous mass of clays, sands, gravels and boul- ders, the various materials being arranged in no discoverable order. They never show signs of stratification, nor do they at different points in the county sustain a uniform relation to each other. The materials lie as they were left by the ice, and are, as one would expect, absolutely heterogeneous. Large boulders are rare, smaller fragments not uncommon, the prevailing stone being Sioux quartzite. Sands and gravels are not very common. The typical material is stiff blue joint clay, which on exposure to the weather becomes lighter in color except where stained by iron or darkened by products of vegetable decay. The blue clay varies in density. When very dense it becomes. when once wet, impermeable by water from above, and is known as hard pan. The hard pan grades insensibly into the softer clay above and below. It sustains no constant to the other materials and may be found at any depth.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
POST-PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS
The post-Pleistocene materials occurring in Adair County may be classified as alluvium, stratified gravels, stratified sands, and peat. Of these, the first three belong together and are associated with the flood plains of the larger streams. It should be added, however, that many smaller streams, even of an intermittent character, have fairly well defined valleys with flood plains a few rods in width, while others have failed to broaden their valleys in this way, and have cut mere gulleys in the Kansan plain. It is of course impossible to indicate the location of narrow alluvial bottoms along the course of the smaller prairie streams.
Typical alluvium as found in Adair County is when dry a very dark gray-brown: when wet it becomes black. It is usually more or less distinctly stratified. Occasionally sand and alluvium are found interstratified, the former of course representing an old bar, the latter being laid down on top of the bar after it had become a part of the overflow plain, through the deepening and shifting of the stream's course. The flood plain is usually broader on the north and east sides of the valley than on the south and west. In the former case it slopes gently back to the hills bordering the valley; in the latter case it usually forms a more acute angle with the hills at their base. The hills to the south and west have a steeper gradient than have those to the north and east. The latter slope southwesterly and face the noon- day and afternoon sun. The former are shaded during much of the day, and consequently hold the frost longer in the spring and are not so subject to erosion. This variation in the contours of two sides of a valley is constant throughout the county for all the larger streams. The best sheltered flood plains are on the right hand side of the val- leys. and it is there that the timber is densest and there the moisture- loving and shade-loving plants flourish most luxuriantly.
An interesting deposit of stratified gravels and peat is found on the Burrell farm, two miles southwest of Greenfield. At the extreme edge of the flood plain of a small tributary of the East Nodaway, a gravel pit has been sunk to a depth of eight feet. On the side toward the hill the gravel is distinctly stratified with much cross-bedding. On the opposite side, next the flood plain, the section shows a more uniformly horizontal stratification without cross-bedding, the material being the same coarse gravel mixed with many nodules and cysts of bog iron, the whole bound together by layer after layer of coarse dark colored peat. The peat is very recent, as is evidenced by the fact that
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
the topmost layer forms the present ground surface and shows the hummocks characteristic of the slough grass growing here before the bottom was sowed to blue grass. The peat consists merely of layer after layer of solidified or semi-solidified grass roots to the thickness of about five feet. Many of the tinier roots are more or less intact and are surrounded by red tubules of bog-iron. The hollow bog-iron cysts so common at this point are frequently filled with a matted tangle of grass roots. The cysts vary in size from the size of a hazel- nut up to ten or twelve inches in diameter. The pebbles making up the gravel exposed at this point are extremely waterworn, more so than those usually found in the beds of streams cutting through the Kansan drift. Their rounded condition, and the fact that quartzite fragments are not present, would suggest an Aftonian origin. The writer suspects that this gravel deposit was originally an Aftonian boulder, ploughed up by the Kansan ice sheet in its advance, and buried in the Kansan till. Subsequent erosion cut the valley, and in doing so cut through one side of the boulder. Owing to a local imper- fection in the post-Kansan drainage system, however, the material was not carried down into the Nodaway, but was caught in a small bog at the foot of the hill and there re-deposited with horizontal stratification. Much coarse grass was growing in the bog, and the peat thus formed was interstratified with the gravel washed down from the hillside. Haematite cysts and nodules would necessarily form under these conditions. The area of the peat may be traced to the alluvial bottom by the poor growth of the blue grass, and the fact that it is of a much darker color than is the surrounding grass. The little peat bog is only a few rods in diameter. It is interesting to note that this tiny and inconspicuous peat bed was discovered by White and is noted by him in his geology of Iowa. He did not, of course, discover the gravels, as they were not uncovered until 1910.
Another peat bed is known to the writer, in the northeast corner of Walnut and northwest corner of Jefferson townships. This is a part of the flood plain of Middle River and was originally covered with hummocks of coarse slough grass. It was an area of imperfect drainage, about thirty rods in diameter, doubtless having been orig- inally an ox-bow lake and having been filled up by successive crops of grass. Years ago this was turned into a pasture and the blue grass turf finally covered it. A well sunk in the turf to a depth of three feet gave an inexhaustible supply of extremely clear water. In wet seasons the place showed a tendency to revert to its boggy condition, owing to the fact that the cattle tramped out the turf, and
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
it was decided to drain the bog into Middle River. The ditch was dug to a depth of five feet, through a rather coarse, but densely com- pacted dark brown peat. Doubtless many peat bogs of this sort might be found along the alluvial plains of the larger streams.
PALEONTOLOGY
The shells of modern land snails are frequently found in the alluvium of flood plains and terraces. No systematic investigation of these has yet been made, and the subject must be reserved for a future paper.
The joint clay which makes up the greater part of the Kansan drift sheet is entirely non-fossiliferous. Many species of land mol- luscs dwell on the surface of the drift and are often buried by caving banks or become covered by the humus which forms a veneer over the surface, but careful search has failed to reveal any imbedded in the body of the drift. The leached portions of the drift sheet, which has been sometimes mistakenly described as "loess" is non-fossiliferous equally with the deeper and more compact clay.
Owing to the extremely limited opportunities for observation nothing is known as to the fossiliferous character of the Dakota deposits in Adair County. No fossils are reported from the few shafts which penetrate this formation.
The Earlham limestone contains the following species :
Productus nebrascensis. P. punctatus. Athyris subtilita.
The massive ledges found below the level of the Earlham in con- nection with the fragmental limestone, reveal the following fauna:
Productus nebrascensis.
P. cora.
P. costatus.
P. punctatus.
P. longispinus. Spirifer cameratus. Athyris subtilita.
Fenestella -- sp.
Rhombopora lepidodendroides.
Vol.I -16
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Allerisma terminale. Derbya crassa. Fistulipera nodulifera. Fusulina secalicus.
The blue shale associated with the foregoing limestone is par- ticularly rich in Chonetes verneuilanus.
The Port Union shale contains a rich and distinctive fauna, of which only the following can be here given :
Aviculapecten neglectus. A. - - sp. Myalina subquadrata.
Owing to the extremely soft and brittle character of the Port Union shale, the securing of perfect fossil remains from it is very difficult, but it is extremely fossiliferous, and will repay future inves- tigation on the part of the paleontologists. In the Keating breccia were found remains of Athyris subtilita, and an unidentified Pro- ductus.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
In an earlier day much limestone was quarried from the Earlham and the thin ledges of massive limestone associated with the Frag- mental, but the cheapening of cement construction has driven the limestone out of use. For a limestone, the Earlham resists the action of rain and frost excellently. Many foundations and one stone house forty years old bear witness to its enduring qualities. For purposes of construction, the Fragmental proper is of course worthless. The massive limestone will be marketable for macadam and concrete con- struction as soon as the Port Union country shall be opened up by the advent of a railroad, but the Fragmental cannot even be used for this purpose, since it contains too great an admixture of carboniferous clay. The Port Union shales, and the other blue shales cropping out farther down Middle River are of smooth, even consistency, without grit, and with the limestone should make a cement of good quality. This industry also awaits the coming of a railroad to make it profitable.
The brick industry in Adair County goes back to the very early times. At a very early day there were brickyards at Fontanelle, Adair and Casey. About thirty years ago there was a brickyard
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
just west of Greenfield, north of the old Fontanelle road which is now Main Street, and at the same time the Day Brickyard was in operation a short distance east of Fontanelle in the Nodaway bot- tom. In all these cases the brick was molded by hand, and was of rather inferior quality as measured by the standard of today, being rough and soft. About fifteen years ago, a brickyard was estab- lished in Greenfield by J. W. Darby, and for a decade an excellent quality of brick and tile was manufactured at this point. The mate- rial used in the early manufacture of brick in the county was the black alluvium of sloughs and stream bottoms, since it was then believed that the joint clay was useless for this purpose. In fact, the latter cannot be used successfully where the method of molding by hand is in vogue, since it will check in drying and experience has shown that most of the brick are ruined. It often has the added dis- advantage of containing many small pebbles, which of course makes its use for brick making impossible. The material used by Mr. Darby was a deposit of drift, or joint clay, lying just east of the railway station in Greenfield. At this point the drift is practically free from pebbles. One large boulder was uncovered in the diggings, and in a search of an hour covering the exposure the writer found three tiny flint pebbles. The brick and tile were molded by machinery and it was found that there was but little checking and very few were spoiled in the burning. Mr. Darby maintained a permanent equip- ment of one large brick kiln and three tile kilns, the product being taken as soon as made, and the demand usually exceeding the supply. The establishment finally passed into other hands and the business having become involved, was discontinued in a few years. The machinery was bought by C. H. Cass of Bridgewater.
Mr. Cass was a contractor and bricklayer and maintained a yard at Bridgewater where he manufactured the materials used by him. The material used was ordinary Kansan drift clay, which in the vicinity of Bridgewater was commonly free from pebbles and sand, and burned into excellent brick.
The brick and tile industry in Adair County offers good possi- bilities. There are large plants at Creston and Stuart, but owing to railroad disadvantages there are no large ones in Adair County.
CHANGES INCIDENT TO HUMAN OCCUPATION
Open pastures in all parts of the county show much recent erosion, the gulleys cutting from a depth of a few inches to fifteen.or twenty
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
feet, and gradually backing up from the lowlands toward the higher ground. So general is this process and so recent is it in all observed cases, as to lead to the suspicion that the region may have undergone recent rejuvenation. After careful examination the writer has been led to reject the rejuvenation theory. It is noticeable that the process of gully cutting takes place only in those places where the wild grass has been replaced by the tame grass. Blue grass pastures are espe- cially subject to dissection of this sort, while the process is absolutely unknown in those places where the native slough grass still carpets the soil. It must of course be remembered that the slough grass is not limited to bogs and marshes, but is the normal ground covering in all shallow sloughs and draws, even when the latter lays elose to the crest of the divide. Originally, therefore, every place that would, by reason of its lower level, be the natural starting point for the development of a gully, was covered by the slough grass. This grass grew in hummocks, which usually lie so close together that one may step from one to the other. It roots very deep (three to six feet ) and the root system forms a dense spongy mass that absorbs and holds water readily. The decay of the culms and the older roots forms a very absorbent humus and because of the dense root mass this humus does not wash away, but remains and so increases the absorbent capacity. The grass grows very thick, to a height of three to four feet. producing a dense shade, and thus reducing evaporation. The roots are not limited to the hummocks or stools, but penetrate between and the whole slough thus becomes a great tough sponge for the retention of moisture. Under these conditions rapid erosion is an impossibility.
When the slough grass has been replaced by blue grass, most of these conditions are reversed. The blue grass makes, it is true. a dense ground cover, but it does not root deeply and it does not produce a heavy humus. Especially is the latter true in the case of pastures where the grass is continually eaten off short. Once erosion is started at one point it proceeds with great rapidity. The soil beneath the turf (and the latter is but a few inches in thickness ) is quickly washed out. the water excavates beneath the edge of the overhanging turf, and the latter soon begins to break off of its own weight and fall into the little gully thus forming. Each rainstorm deepens the gully a little, and backs it up a few feet, until finally the greater part of a valuable pasture may be dissected by a series of several wide, deep gulleys and many square rods of pasturage destroyed. In the waste- ful farming of the past, farmers and agricultural teachers have alike
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
failed to estimate at its full value the damage to the agriculture of Iowa wrought by this process. In the more economical farming of the future, effective means will have to be taken to check it. The cultivation of the soil has, of course, greatly increased the factors of creep and sheet-water erosion, denuding the higher ground of mush of its humus, and increasing the thickness of alluvium on the lower lands. To a certain extent this is unavoidable, but true economy would suggest that the steeper hillsides should not be ploughed, and should be kept in permanent meadow or pasture. The annual run-off has also been greatly modified by cultivation. Under primitive con- ditions the water of the spring rains was caught by every slough and held through the season, gradually seeping out, as the summer went on, to feed the smaller streams. The whole land surface was dis- sected by this network of reservoirs which, by reason of the conditions of shade, humus, spongy consistency and depth of root mass. etc., made an excellent series of feeders for the streams. Under present conditions the run-off is much more rapid in the spring and this is likely to be succeeded by a condition of semi-aridity during July and August. It is no unusual thing for Middle River and the East Noda- way to cease flowing during August, the water being reduced to a few shallow pools. In the summer of 1911 the writer walked for half a mile down the bed of Middle River and not only found no water, but in that distance found the sand for the most part perfectly dry and dust-like. Above and below this half-mile stretch were stagnant pools, and there may of course have been a little seepage through the lower part of the sand, but could not have been much. Such is the condition in a year of drought. Conditions of this sort were unknown in the early days before the breaking up of the prairie and the extirpation of the native grass.
The cutting of much of the timber has had a marked effect on erosion and topography. It is true that much good land has been added to the cultivable area. On the other hand, much land has been eleared that ought to have been left in timber. The clearing of the steeper hillsides has led to the washing away of the humus with which they were once carpeted. This having once occurred the grass becomes thin, gullies begin to develop, and soon the entire slope is dissected by deep V-shaped valleys and is perfectly bare of vegeta- tion. If, after elearing, the attempt is made to put a slope of this sort under the plow, the process is of course hastened. In any case land which was originally productive becomes waste and then cannot be farmed, nor can it be reforested without tremendous expense.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
True conservation demands that the rougher land be kept in timber. The destruction of the brush and the smaller forest vegetation has led to much destructive erosion on the steeper slopes. A blue grass surface, covered with sparse timber is readily cut into gullies in the same way as are open pastures though not at the same rate. In clear- ing ground the brush should be left on the steeper slopes. With the increasing value of timber, and the advanced price of land, the prob- lem of woodland conservation should no longer be ignored.
BOTANY
The relation of botany to geological conditions is always a close one, since the nature of the plant covering and the distribution of plant species depends very largely upon the character of the mantle rock. Conversely, the nature of the vegetation may profoundly modify the ground conditions. The flora of the county comprises a number of fairly distinct types, and these types conform in a general way to the three conditions of moisture, shade and soil. In general these types may be classified as follows:
Upland prairie flora-xero- phytic to mesophytic.
High gravel points. High exposed south and west slopes - partially xerophytic. North and east slopes- xerophytic to mesophytic.
Slough flora.
Prairie
Slight depressions in high prairies - mesophytic - and intermediate stages down to wet bogs on low- er levels-hydrophytic.
Prairie stream flora.
Hydrophytic flora, bor- dered by thin fringe of mesophytic flora.
Unforested alluvial bot- toms.
Mesophytic on higher ground. Hydrophytic in bogs and oxbows, and near streams.
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HISTORY OF ADAIR COUNTY
Steep bluff flora, usually on south or west bank of larger streams - meso- phytic.
Native Forest
Ravine flora, found low in gullies cut in river bluffs, and at the base of bluffs -mesophytic to hydro- phytic. This includes much the same species as the next.
Shaded alluvial bottoms- mesophytic to hydro - phytic.
خمر . بوتو
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